Report: Raggio di Sol - Gottesdienst and rehearsal weekend

OK, so it's not such a big deal singing in a church service with a choir, but I did want to report that it went quite well. Unfortunately, the church was practically empty. Germany went to Daylight Savings time in the night and so it was pretty tough getting there myself especially since we had to be there an hour in advance to rehearse. I was very glad to see two of my dearest friends in Hannover, Isabel and Kristina, even an hour late. At any rate, I'm very pleased with our performance, which bodes well for more important concerts in June (Pentecost Monday) and in September (a big benefit concert).

Besides performing in the church service we rehearsed both Saturday and Sunday for upwards of 6 hours. Actually Saturday it was more like 8 with a long lunch break! We worked hard on the Monteverdi madrigals and other larger works we'll be singing. Alfredo has decreed we'll be singing lots of the program from memory. The Monterverdi madrigals will be easy enough to memorize, it's the stuff with multiple verses I have trouble with. I'm the queen of mix-and-match verses as my colleagues from Elysium can attest. I hope I manage!

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Raggio di Sol

Last Autumn I joined a vocal ensemble - Raggio di Sol. A choir if you will. There are 8 of us and a colleague, someone I sang with in a production of L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Alfredo Ihl, who directs and sings. I joined for two reasons: because Alfredo asked if I would, and because I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to begin singing again on a regular basis (even if it's not paid). I love singing choral music, especially in a small group, in which I mostly get to sing by myself on the soprano line. :-)

Anyway, we are preparing for a benefit concert (benefitting the earthquake victims in Chile - from last year) and will be singing absolutely wonderful music by Monteverdi, Tallis, Hammerschmidt, Gastoldi and many more. I'll tell you more about the concert when it gets nearer and report on it once it's happened.

This weekend we will be rehearsing all weekend and performing at the church we rehearse at, doing the music for their service Sunday morning at 10am. If you are in Hannover or anywhere near here, please feel free to drop in and listen! We're at the Lukaskirche, Dessauerstr. 2, Hannover. If you're not near here, well then, don't worry, perhaps I'll post a recording (if Alfredo and the others don't mind).

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Blood and Chrome Podcast

Hello everyone!

I have so much to tell you, so assuming I get my act together you'll be finally hearing from me regularly again!

First, and the thing that has motivated me to blog again, is because it's time sensitive. Are you a fan (or rather were you) of Battlestar Galactica? There is a new series called Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome coming out sometime soon (I can't find an official air date anywhere!). My buddy Tony C. Smith, the host of the Hugo Award winning podcast StarShipSofa has created a new podcast to accompany the TV show. The first 4 promos and the first episode are out already - you can subscribe to the show at iTunes : Blood and Chrome Podcast The promos are original scripts and wonderfully read and acted by Larry Santoro.

And just a side note, the theme music for the podcast (and on all the promos) is a recording of me singing solo with my old church choir from Frankfurt. We're singing a spiritual - "I Wanna Die Easy" and Tony has always loved it. He used it (completely randomly) on an early StarShipSofa show with Ciaran. So, if you like it and want to hear the whole thing without Larry's (admittedly wonderful voice) over the top, then go to my MySpace space (I love writing that!).

If you are new here, having followed a link here from another website, then may I direct you to my buyable music? It's at CDbaby: "Silence" And while you're at it, you could consider writing a review or signing up to follow my blog or me at Twitter. Hmmm. Anything else? Well, yes, I promised more, but that will come in the form of subsequent blog posts! Lucky you! :-)

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